ALLEGED ILLEGAL OPERATION

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25551, 20 July 1948, Page 8

ALLEGED ILLEGAL OPERATION

—♦— WOMAN PLEADS NOT GUILTY LOWER COURT HEARING COMPLETED A plea of not guilty to each charge was entered by Amy Ethel Kingsbury, a domestic, aged 47, when she appeared before Mr F. F. Reid, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday on one charge of unlawfully using an instrument with intent to procure a miscarriage, and two charges of aiding, assisting and procuring Joseph Charles J’ate in the unlawful use of an instrument with intent to procure the miscarriage of Gladys Mary Brown and Maria Margaret McCone. The accused was committed to the Supreme Court for trial. Detective-Sergeant A. A. Herron prosecuted and Mr J. K. Moloney appeared for the accused. A married woman, whose name the Magistrate ordered not to be published, said her husband was suffering from war neurosis. When she found she was pregnant she decided to come to Christchurch. She went to Bettie’s, the chemist, and was given an envelope and sent to an address, 208 Bealey avenue. This was about the middle of February. She saw Mrs Kingsbury, the accused, at the address given, explained her condition and said she wished to have an operation. ‘‘She said she would do it for me.” said the witness. “I stayed there fot about a week. Nothing happened by the end of the week and I returned to my home m Otago Mrs Kingsbury saw me off m the train. I wrote to Mrs Kingsbury and told her I still had not had a miscarriage. She wrote and asked me to return to Christchurch. I went to Mrs Kingsbury’s address on Monday. April 5. and stayed there to the Wednesday. On that occasion a man —I do not know who it was—tried to bring on a misqprriage by the use of an instrument. The accused warstanding beside me at the time. I later went to Dunedin and stayed with friends. I was taken ill and was sent to the Dunedin Public Hospital. While I was there I had a miscarriage. I paid the accused £3O for the operation. It was paid on the first occasion I visited her and the money was handed to the accused openly,” said the witness Gynaecologist’s Evidence Sir Bernard Dawson. professor of gynaecology at Otago University, said that the previous witness was admitted to on A Dunedir ? Public Hospital on April An examination revealed a pregnancy of about 24 weeks’ duration. Later, an operation was performed by witness for the drainage of a large abscess. There was little doubt that an instrument was “ s ® d K °n this woman, penetrating the Z and - so , me fluids were injected Into £?JL abdo ?? inal cavity, resulting in severe absccs^ 1341011 and die orrna^ion ° f a large company with Detective“e„r„g,eapt and Detective Burns, he *£ the , acc used’s home where he t Sr ree I ? tters * sa id Detective R. H. ’* a J L « He aske , d the accused who they En™ f r ° ln { ai i d she re Pl»ed: “They are gir i w fl°_ wanted me to do some-fn-n^Q^°rThifr ’ 1 cou ld not do anything that”' 1 h3Ve never done anything like

ri ?“ ys Sa unders, a tractor driver, of Waiau, and now of 108 Tancred street, Christchurch, said he and Miss Brown were engaged to be married. In June, 1947, they were working for the same farmer. In March, 1948, Miss Brown went to Christchurch to be examined by a doctor, and when she returned to the farm she showed him some pills she was gomg to take. Witness came to Christchurch m the last week in April and went to Bettie’s, the chemist, where he *2 an he understood to be George Bettie. Two weeks later he returned to P£ e^?J ses and spoke to a man who said Bettie was in hospital. “This man gave me the name Kingsbury and an address, 208 Bealey avenue. I went there ar !d saxv Nurse Kingsbury, the accused. m Brown came to Christchurch on May 17 and we went to 208 Bealey avenue. Before going to the accused's home, Miss Brown handed me £5O. I paid £3O to the accused that night. If the operation was successful I was going to pay her the other £2O.

Medical Evidence OT^ e S a J le^- tO T 20 , 3 , Bealey avenue on _? 7 ’- l aid PF 1 J - Fahey. He was shown into a bedroom by the accused. an d he saw a young woman, whom he was told was Miss Brown. He came to the conclusion she was suffering from septicaemia, and ordered her immediate pitaf VaJ tO the Christchurch Public Hos*DJil Andrews said he was on duty the Christchurch Public Hospital whe i Miss B r °wn was admitted about 10 a.m. on May 27. He found she was suffering from septic abortion, complicated by a thrombophlebitis of the right leg. On May 28 her condition deteriorated, and the following day she relapsed into a coma. A diagnosis of gas gangrene was made, for which intensive treatment was given. On June 1 she regained consciousness. and a surgical drainage from the right leg was performed on June 3. Her condition appeared to improve, but on June 9 she became worse, and on June 11 she died. ♦ D £ D A,_ T -- Stewart, assistant pathologist at the Christchurch Public Hospital, said that, as the result of a post-mortem examination, he found that the cause of Miss Brown’s death was meningitis and toxaemia, secondary to severe sepsis following perforation of the uterus. Dr. A. B. Pearson, pathologist at the Christchurch Public Hospital, said that, on May 31, he received from Senior-De-tective Brady a parcel containing a foetus, and various articles. Clarence Thomas Day, a driver, employed by the St. John Ambulance Association, said he took Miss Brown from 208 Sealey avenue to the hospital on May 27. On April 26, he examined Miss McCone at the Oamaru Public Hospital, said Dr. A. S. Morton, of Oamaru. She was suffering from abdominal distension from peritonitis. An operation was performed. It was a case of parametritis with peritonitis, apparently from septic miscarriage. She died on ‘May 29. Purchases Made Joseph Charles Tate, a druggist’s assistant, ,said he had pleaded guilty in the Magistrate’s Court, on July 1, to a charge of unlawfully using an instrument with intent to procure a miscarriage. “I know the accused. I first met her two or three years ago when I was invited to an evening at her home.” said the witness. “I saw her at different times since then, when she made purchases where I was employed. In March this year, she telephoned me and said she wanted to see “I went to her home at 208 Bealey avenue. She said she was working with Bettie, the chemist and she was taking girls, sent to her by Bettie, for the purpose of having miscarriages. She wanted to know if I knew anything about performing illegal operations. She wanted me to help her. She said she had rheumatism badly in her arm and could not manage it. I said I didn’t want to do it but she begged me to help her and talked me into assisting her. “On May 17 she telephoned me and I called at her home. The accused asked me to help her with an illegal operation. I didn’t really want to do it, but she persuaded me to do it. I went into a bedroom with Mrs Kingsbury and endeavoured to operate on a girl there, but I was not successful. The accused was present while I was attempting to perform the operation.

“Two days later I received a telephone message from the accused and returned to her house. She said she wanted me to help her again on the same girl.

Chloroform Used “Two or three days later the accused asked me to do another operation as the first two had not been successful. The accused and I went into the bedroom. The accused gave the girl chloroform by pouring it on a piece of cotton wool and putting it on the girl’s face. I Serformed a third operation. Mrs mgsbury gave me £5 for the operation the first time it was oerformed. I know now that the girl Brown subsequently died in the Christchurch Public Hospital. “About April* 14 I received a telephone message from the accused and I went to her home.” continued the witness. “She wanted me to perform an illegal operation on a young woman. The accused said she had tried to perform an operation but had not managed it. , I operated and the accused gave me £5 for the operation. I telephoned the accused some time later and she said everything was all right and the girl was gone. I knew later the girl’s name was McCone. On June 9 I received a letter from the accused asking me to go to Invercargill to perform an illegal operation, but I refused to go. I went to the accused’s home to tell her I would have nothing further to do with her. She then told me the girl McCone had died. I definitely told the accused, before I performed an operation, that if any slight thing went wrong she was to call a doctor immediately.” Senior-Detective F. J. Bradv said that, on May 29, with Constable McDonald, of the women’s division, and Detective Burns, he went to the accused’s house and interviewed her about the illness of the girl Brown. “She made a statement giving us details, and signed it. Among the debris in the incinerator I found the articles mentioned by Dr. Pearson.”

Statements Made Detective c. P. Burns read statements made by the accused in which she said she was not a registered nurse, but had done general nursing for some years. She said Saunders and Miss Brown had called at her home, but she did not know who sent them. She thought an operation had already been performed on Miss Brown. When the girl was ill accused said she

called a doctor and the girl was taken to hospital. Saunders, who had paid her £3O, called at her house and wanted the money back, saying the girl was very ill. She told him she could no nothing. She thought it callous of him. In another statement the accused admitted operations had been performed at her home on Miss Brown by Joseph Charles Tate. She was not with him. She paid Tate £5 out of her own money. She had met Tate some time before and it was agreed that he would do operations and the girls were to stay at her home till they were better. She never had any dealings with Bettie. She never had any agreement with Bettie to send any girls to her for illegal operations, nor had she ever received any money from Bettie. In a third statement the accused said a man, Moody, came to her house with a girl Maria. He said they had been sent there, but did not say who sent them. In March this year Tate asked her if he could use her house as a nursing home, and she agreed. Tate went into the room alone and when accused went in later the girl, Maria said: “That part is over.” The man Moody paid her £25 for the operation and she paid Tate £5. She telephoned Tate to let him know the girl was at her house. In another statement the accused said the third woman arrived at her house in February. This woman handed her an envelope containing £3O and a certain article. The accused said she used the article. Corroborative evidence w®s given by Detective-Sergeant R. S. Smith. Detective-Sergeant Herron said all the witnesses had been called for the prosecution except Ernest Arthur Moody, but as the result of a motor accident Moody was in hospital with a fractured skull. When Kingsbury pleaded not guilty and was committed to the Supreme Court for trial, Mr Moloney asked that she be allowed bail as she wac in delicate health. The accused was allowed bail in her own recognisance of £lOO and one surety of £lOO, and ordered to report daily to the police.